Electric conducting mechanism.



J. DELANEY-V ELECTRIC CONDUCTING MECHANISM.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY so, 1913.

1,119,687, Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

3 3 SHEETSSHEBT 1.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTO-LITHOU WASHINGTON. D. c.

J. DELANEY.

ELECTRIC CONDUCTING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 30, 1913.

Patented Dec. 1

3 SHEETS-*SEEET 2.

'HE NORRIS PETERS c0. PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHINGTON. D. C

J. DELANEY.

ELECTRIC oomncme MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 30, 1913. 1 119,687. Patented De0.1,1914.

3 SHBETSSHEET 3.

3 35/4031 7 f5, 36 /F M-- M James jeZa/zy THE NORRIS PETERS COPHOTOVLITHOH WASHJNQFON, a c

urrnn srn'rns PATENT ornion.

JAJVKES DELANEY, OF COEUR DALENE, IDAHO.

Application filed July 30, 1913;

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, Limits DELANEY, a citizenof the United States, residing at Coeur dAlene, in the county ofKootenai and State of Idaho, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Electric Conducting Mechanism, of which the following is aspecification. q

The present invention relates to improvements in electric conductingmechanism for an over-had source of electricity, the object being toprovide a traveling body, such as a car, with means whereby electricitywill be conducted from an over-head or feed wire to the motor in thecar, the said means being automatically retainedin contact with the feedwire under ordinary conditions or when contacting with an irregularityor obstruction in the. wire, and furthermore, whereby .the frictionalcontact between the said memher and the wire will be sufiiciently slightas to obviate the liability of injury to the said feed wire or to thesaid mechanism.

With the objects above set forth in view, and others which will appearas the nature of the invention is more fully understood, the improvementresides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts setforth in the following specification and falling within the scope of theappended claims.

For the purpose of illustration the accompanying drawings illustrate asatisfactory reduction of my improvement to practice, but the nature ofthe invention necessarily renders the same susceptible to embodiments invarious forms, all of which, however, fall within the scope of theappended claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the conductingdevice or trolley in contact with the, feed wire, parts of theimprovement being shown in section, Fig. 2 is a similar view butillustrating the trolley in its lower position, and out of contact withthe feed wire, Fig. 3 is a trans" verse sectional view on the line 3-3of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a top plan view, Fig. 5 is a central verticallongitudinal sectional view of the device illustrated by Fig. 3. Fig. 6is a detail perspective view illustrating one of the ends of the upperportion of the conducting member or trolley, and Figs. 7 8, 9 and 10illustrate details.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, thenumeral 1 designates the topvof an ordinary trolley car or other self-propelled Specification ofLetters Patent.

' I ELECTRIC CONDUCTING Mncrmnrsut.

Patented Dec. 1, 19141.,

Serial No. 782,073.

vehicle which is adapted to receive its energy from an over-headelectric feed wire 2 which is conducted from the said wire to the motorof the car through the medium of my improvement which is broadlydesignated by the numeral 3.

The improvement. comprises diametrically oppositelydisposed supports 41:for a shaft 5 which is arranged transversely of the longivtudinal planeof the body of the car. J ournaled upon the shaft 5, and to the oppositeends thereof inward of the supports i are what I term guide members 6.Each of the guides 6compr1ses a substantially rectangular memberwhioh isslotted or bifurcated below its upper end which is trunnioned upon theshaft 5, to provide the said member 6 with spaced arms 7 The arms 7 areadapted to serve as guides for a traveler 8, and each of said travelersmay have its sides grooved to insure the same against accilooselysecured to each of the arms"? and which freely pass through the openingsin the brackets, the rods being preferably threaded and are providedwith adjusting .95 elements, in the nature of flanged nuts 14:

which engage with the free ends of the springs, to adjust the tension ofthe said springs.

arranged atone end of the car. A weight 19 is arranged within the welland has connected thereto a cable 16. The cable passes over a pulley 18that is arranged upon the top of the car abovethe well 20. Thecable 16is provided with a divided end, or in other words, has its free end madeup of two strands, each of which being indicated by the character 16.

The numerals 17 indicate grooved wheels, one of which is arranged at thelower corner of each of the guide members 6.

The numeral 20 designates a well which is.

The numerals 18 indicate guide pulleys, one of which is mounted forrotation, upon the top of the car, adjacent each of the guide members 6.

One of the strands 16', of the cable l6,

passes under the guide wheel 17 of the member {3 which is disposedadjacent the well 20. This strand 16 is trained over a sheave wheel 15which is mounted upon a shaft carried by the traveler 8 arranged uponthe rete red to guide member 6, and the end cit said strand 16 issecured to the member 6 opposite the guide wheel 17. The second strand16 passes around the first guide pulley 18, or the guide pull'eydisposed nearest the well 20, the said strand 16 being then continuedlongitudinally of the car around the second guide pulley 1S, and fromthence passed under the second guide wheel. 1? over the second sheavewheel. 15, which is journaled upon a shaft provided by the secondtraveler 8, and the said. strand is then continued downwardly andsecured to the second guide member 6 opposite its guide wheel 17. Thelower portion of the well. 20 is in the nature oi a cylinder and isindicated by the numeral 21, and arranged within the said cylinder is apiston 22-, and the stroke of the piston may be limited by a. suitableoutlet port in the cylinder 21, the said piston extending to within thewell, but disposed at a. suitable distance below the weight 19. Thecylinder 21 may rec 've its power from one of the pipes of the air brakesystem connected with the car, and the said pipe, which may be designated by the numeral 2, is provided with a. valve 24 whereby the air maybe forced to within the cylinder to project the piston rod 22, orwhereby the air may be prevented from entering use same. The piston. maybe provided with the usual spring for retracting the same when thepiston head. is not "influenced by the fluid within the cylinder.

Pivotally connected with each of the travelers 8 the end links 95 of atoggle lever system, which is designated broadly by the numeral Thelinks or arms connected. with the end linlrs are preferably centrallyenlarged, the said enlargements being formed with openings, whereby thelinks, which. may be designated by the numerals 27, are journaled uponthe shaft 5.- The links of the toggle system above the said links 27 arecentrally connected with the links 28, as well with the remaining linksof the toggle system through the medium of suitable pins 29, and thepins 29, while sufliciently strong to normally sustain the toggle systemin either its extended or collapsed position, are also suliicientlybrittle or weal: as to break under an abnormal strain.

The upper pairs of links of each of the toggle systems are pivotallyconnected between ears 80 provided upon the opposite sides of asubstantially rectangular frame 31. This frame 31 comprises a pair ofspaced upper or connecting members 32 to which are secured adjacenttheir lower edges pair of longitudinally extending bars 33, the sameprojecting a suitable distance from the outer laces of the members 32and having their ends connected by a spacing bar 3%. The frame isfurther provided with a central brace member which is connected with thebars 32 and S t and which has its ends arranged at a downward curvature,but its main body disposed directly centrally of the bars Secured to theends of the bars 3a; and connecting the ends of the central supportingmember 35 are curved side supports 36. This structure is adapted toprovide a strong and ellicient frame which will effectively support theconducting rollers 37 and 38. lhe rollers 38 are hollow, and are formedof some suitable electric conducting material, such as copper or thelike.

The ends 39 of stub axles 40 which are secured to the members 32 throughthe me dium of retaining elements l1, are inserted in the ends of therollers providing shafts or trunnions for the said rollers, and ifdesired, the rollers may contain a filler or core of non-electiicconducting material, in which instance, the core or filler will besecured within the said rollers, and the ends of said cores or fillerswill be disposed opposite the ends 39 ot the stub shafts l0, and willserve two purposes; namely, the reinforcement of the roller and theirends being disposed opposite the ends of the stub shafts will prevent orlimit alongitudinal movement of the rollers upon the stub shafts.

The rollers 37 and 38 are of a sutlicient cross sectional diameter to atall times project above the central bar 35 of the frame 31, and theconducting wires are attached to the conducting members 4-.0 and leadtherefrom to the motor in the car. The direction of travel of the carmay be regulated by a suitable switch arranged within the car (notshown).

It is to be understood that the weight 19 is not adapted to force therollers 37 and violently into contact with the feed wire and also thatthe toggle lever systems are adapted to permit of the upper frame andits conducting rollers being free to move downwardly away from the wirewhen an obstruction occurs in the wire, and also that the springs 9 and10 will permit of the members (3 rotating upon the shaft 5 so that therollers may readily adjust themselves in proper contacting position withthe wires, so that under ordinary circumstances, danger of the breakageof the mechanism is rendered less liable. However,

should the rollers be contacted violently by an obstruction of a greatersize or magnitude than that ordinarily experienced by a trolley wheelupon a trolley wire, the pins 29 will break and permit the upper frame31 and its conducting rollers to drop upon the top of the car withoutinflicting a serious injury to the device or to the feed wire, and fromthe above description taken in connection with the drawings, theimprovement will, it is thought, be understood and appreciated by allthose skilled in the art to which such inventions appertain withoutfurther detailed description.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

l. The combination with an overhead feed wire and an electricallypropelled car, of an electric conductor arranged upon the car andadapted to contact with the feed wire, said conductor including rollermembers which are disposed transversely of the wire and which aresupported upon a frame, lazy-tongs systems for the ends of theconductor, each supported at one of its intermediate pivots, a travelerconnected with each of the lower end links of the lazytongs system, aguide for each traveler, a grooved wheel upon each of the travelers, aweight, a cable connected with the weight, guide wheels, said cablehaving its free end divided to provide two strands each of which passesover certain of the guide wheels, is trained over the grooved wheel ofthe corresponding traveler and is connected with the guide member belowthe said grooved wheel.

2. In combination with, an overhead feed wire and an electricallypropelled car, of an electric conductor for the car arrangedtransversely of the car and adapted to contact with the feed wire,pivoted cross links comprising a lazy-tongs system connected with theconductor, a traveler connected with the lower end links of thelazy-tongs system, a guide lever for the traveler, a shaft for the guidelever, a support for the shaft, a well, a weight within the well, acable connected with the weight, and said cable having one of its endsconnected with the guide wheel and engaging with the traveler tonormally force the travelerin one direction upon the guide.

3. In combination with an overhead feed including a balancing weight andcoacting,

with the traveler for normally retaining the traveler in one positionupon the guide to expand the cross links to bring the conductor intocontact with the wire.

4. Incombination with an over-head wire and an electric car, of anelectric conductor for engaging the feed wire, cross links havingbreakable pivots connected with each other and with the conductor, asupport upon the car, a shaft upon the support, a slotted guide memberconnected with the shaft, a follower arranged within the slotted guidemember, the end members of the cross links being pivotally connectedwith the follower, and the cross links being sup ported at one of. theirintermediate pivots, a grooved wheel upon the follower, a cableconnected with the guide below the grooved wheel and trained over thegrooved wheel, a guide wheel upon the guide member below the followerfor, the cable, guide rollers for the cable, a well arranged upon thecar, a weight within the well, a connection between the weight and thecable, and means for forcing the weight upward of the well to slack thecable to permit of the lowering of the conductor from the feed wire.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES DELANEY.

Witnesses:

JOHN Crmrs'r, LYNNE S. CU'LP.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

